Advertisement

Harriet E. Bishop

Advertisement

Harriet E. Bishop

Birth
Panton, Addison County, Vermont, USA
Death
8 Aug 1883 (aged 66)
Saint Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota, USA
Burial
Saint Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota, USA Add to Map
Plot
Block 10, Lot 29
Memorial ID
View Source
Harriet Bishop established the first public school and Sunday school in St. Paul, Minnesota. The schoolhouse was at Third and St. Peter Streets. She was also a writer of history and poetry.

Harriet came to Minnesota in 1847. A native of Vermont, she was recruited by Catherine Beecher's Board of National Popular Education in New York to establish a school in St. Paul, Minnesota and to serve as its first formal teacher, reaching students of French, English, Swiss, Sioux, Chippewa, and African-American backgrounds.

Her book, Floral Home, is divided into three components: "Early Sketches," "Later Settlements," and "Further Developments." "Early Sketches" provides accounts of the earliest known white explorers and settlers to the region and discusses the source of the Mississippi River as well as the establishment of Fort Snelling. "Later Settlements" encompasses the period from about 1835-1850 and includes her own arrival. "Further Developments" covers the period after 1850 that saw an explosion of growth in Minnesota. Bishop describes the region's culture, its varied population, its geography and land-use, its natural resources, and the development of its religious, educational, and governmental institutions. There are comments upon the progress of St. Paul, St. Anthony's Falls, St. Croix Falls, Stillwater, and Minneapolis and Minnesota's formation into a territory. Bishop also relates many encounters with the Chippewa and the Sioux [Dakotas] and offers insights about how vastly different cultures co-existed on the frontier. She includes several poems about topics of local significance, some without attribution.
Harriet Bishop established the first public school and Sunday school in St. Paul, Minnesota. The schoolhouse was at Third and St. Peter Streets. She was also a writer of history and poetry.

Harriet came to Minnesota in 1847. A native of Vermont, she was recruited by Catherine Beecher's Board of National Popular Education in New York to establish a school in St. Paul, Minnesota and to serve as its first formal teacher, reaching students of French, English, Swiss, Sioux, Chippewa, and African-American backgrounds.

Her book, Floral Home, is divided into three components: "Early Sketches," "Later Settlements," and "Further Developments." "Early Sketches" provides accounts of the earliest known white explorers and settlers to the region and discusses the source of the Mississippi River as well as the establishment of Fort Snelling. "Later Settlements" encompasses the period from about 1835-1850 and includes her own arrival. "Further Developments" covers the period after 1850 that saw an explosion of growth in Minnesota. Bishop describes the region's culture, its varied population, its geography and land-use, its natural resources, and the development of its religious, educational, and governmental institutions. There are comments upon the progress of St. Paul, St. Anthony's Falls, St. Croix Falls, Stillwater, and Minneapolis and Minnesota's formation into a territory. Bishop also relates many encounters with the Chippewa and the Sioux [Dakotas] and offers insights about how vastly different cultures co-existed on the frontier. She includes several poems about topics of local significance, some without attribution.


Advertisement